One in 10 new car sales are now electric
Electric cars now account for one in 10 new sales, with the Tesla Model 3 being the UK's best-seller in June, according to the latest industry figures.
Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that 186,128 new cars were registered in June, up 28 per cent on the same month in 2020
Some 10.7 per cent of new cars were pure electric while petrol plug-in hybrid and self-charging hybrid cars accounted for 15.2 per cent of new registrations.
Petrol and petrol mild hybrid remains the UK's favourite fuel choice, accounting for 59.9 per cent of all new cars while diesel and mild hybrid diesel cars accounted for the remaining 14.2 per cent.
It's a similar story in the leasing sector with data from Leasing.com showing that 10 per cent of all sales enquiries during the first six months of 2021 were for pure electric cars. Petrol was the most popular at 62 per cent, while diesel accounted for just 18 per cent.
Industry commentators have welcomed the 28 per cent jump in new car registrations but warned that Covid-related disruption will continue to disrupt the flow of new cars and result in long waiting lists for certain models.
“The shortage of semiconductors is having an impact on the supply of new vehicles to the UK, including for consumers looking to lease. The immediate impact has been the delay to lead times for the production of brand-new vehicles," said Paul Harrison, head of strategic partnerships at Leasing.com.
"Depending on the exact spec of new vehicles, factory lead times have been extended by a further six months. Manufacturers are then rationing the chips they do have access to by using fewer of them in lower-spec models and saving chips for higher-margin trims."
The SMMT has also warned of long delays to new stock, with Mike Hawes saying the automotive is battling against a "long Covid" of vehicle supply challenges.
"The semiconductor shortages arising from Covid-constrained output globally are affecting vehicle production, disrupting supply on certain models and restricting the automotive recovery," said Hawes.
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conman on 6 July 2021
I have just bought a brand new Seat Leon £17K, to buy the hybrid version £31K, To buy the Cheapest EV £26K, a reasonable EV £30-40K. After 4 years these Ev's will be out of date with cheaper cars and double the mileage. So I'm waiting. To lease a basic Tesla is nearly £465 a month x 36 months = nearly £17 K Top spec £669 x 36 = £24K and after 3 years you have no car. makes no sense and nearly all EV's come with keyless entry just look to the right of this and see the article of Keyless entry thefts rising.
Edited by conman on 06/07/2021 at 16:06
gavsmit on 6 July 2021
Totally agree with conman.Also, the car makers have tricked people into accepting finance as the way to buy cars, and in getting naïve people to concentrate on monthly payment amounts rather than the actual list price, have got away with huge price hikes in recent times.
The huge hidden price hikes of ICE cars have also had the effect of conning people into thinking EVs are becoming cheaper too, which they are not and never will.
It's never appealed to me to pay thousands in instalments, plus a hefty deposit, plus interest charges on a huge non-discounted list price just to own nothing a couple of years later when hit with the 'guaranteed future value' figure you have to pay to keep the car (another use of misleading terminology).
Buy the right make and model outright with a decent discount will ensure you actually own an asset which you could sell after the same amount of time if you want to (with depreciation offset against the discount you negotiated).
But buying an EV at the moment is completely out for me. The battery tech isn't there yet, the list prices are way too high, too many compromises, perceived low overall running costs like 'zero emissions' are a myth (Khan is already charging people an annual congestion charge registration fee for EVs in London in preparation for extending the charge to EVs in the near future - it's a 'congestion' charge not a 'pollution' charge) etc, etc.
BrendanP on 6 July 2021
Dig a little deeper into the statistics and you'll find the market share for pure electric cars is 8.1% for the first half of 2021, that's about 1 car in 12. The June data is distorted by Tesla deliberately holding back sales and then trying to bunch them all into one month in the hope of being the top selling car. About 37% of all Tesla sales in 2021 took place in June. Consider that the Toyota Yaris is number 10 in the top ten best selling cars for the year to date, and that one model alone sold more than Tesla did.A-B on 7 July 2021
Charging at home on a domestic electricity tariff VAT is charged at 5%.Don't forget charging at an on street or at service areas which provide EV charging points, as expected will be more expensive per kWh, plus the VAT is charged at 20%.
Johnfrog on 8 July 2021
Totally agree with comments that buying outright makes best financial sense. PCPs are an excuse to change your car at regular intervals- ok if you get bored with your ride. Even if you have to borrow money to buy the car I suspect it’s still cheaper than PCP or leasing but I haven’t done the numbers to prove it. I have three cars, all bought outright, one 43 years old, one 8 and one 4. If you buy a car you love you can keep it forever without being stung for a lump sum to own it.I have been given the nod by a Solid State physicist that there is completely new and revolutionary battery technology on the way so I won’t buy an EV for the foreseeable future.
TICKENHAMTIGER on 9 July 2021
Agree with the comments about buying a car outright. I've been doing that for years.TICKENHAMTIGER on 9 July 2021
That's one huge diffeence between your standard Seat as against the hybrid version. Simply not economical.
JJFranco on 9 July 2021
I couldn't agree more!
They're ridiculous amounts of money. I priced that same deal with the Model 3 and came to the same conclusion. And as you say, imagine trying to sell an EV with a 200+ mile range when everything on the market at the time is approaching 500 miles? Or a lithium battery when the new vehicles are graphene? Or even hydrogen?
As for 'cheaper' maintenance, did anyone read that article on garages, including main dealers, not having a clue how to work on EVs, and owners being charged between £5K and £10K unnecessarily, as workshops needlessly replaced most of the system?
I know that one could apply this logic all the time and never buy anything, but it seems to me that right now is a really bad time to buy an EV.
Dorset123 on 9 July 2021
There are still far too many question marks over electric cars to make them the best buy for normal people at the moment.1 The are so boring no noise is great if you hate driving and they are all autos a lot of people like to change gear.
2. What happens when 1/2 the cars are electric and everyone comes home from work and plugs them in can the National Grid cope.
3, Over the last 10 years or so they have been building flats how are these people going to charge their cars.
4. Volvo have said that it takes an electric car 50000 miles to become more environmently friendly so if you had a small petrol car and only drove it 3000 miles a year that will always be better.
5. Remember this has come from Politicians so is doomed to fail !
6. This was decided by todays government a future government may change the dates or even cancel it when they realise it's a disaster.
7.Lets just remember Tony Blair's government saying we should all buy a diesel and look how that ended !
martin.mc on 11 July 2021
Up here in the North East of England, many people can only afford to pay five or six hundred pounds for a car. My neighbours have just bought an excellent low mileage 56 plate Clio for £450. Petrol and diesel cars will be around for a long time yet as people will vote with their money and simply not buy EVs .I agree with Dorset123s comments and wouldn't be surprised if the whole project was scrapped.aethelwulf on 11 July 2021
So, if so many are buying Tesla cars my view is that an awful lot of people have too much cash. Come on Rushi get the tax rates up on them as they have got pockets of cash to throw away.Lot more wealthy people than you realise. . No Tesla cars in my road even though many houses sell for more than £1m . There are two hybrids as my neighbour has a BMW but it is a company car not cash from his pocket.
Not for me yet despite the lies we are told and hype from the media. As the previous comment said , many have to rely on older cars . I have a 2005 Mondeo Estate 2L petrol. Works fine and suits me to the ground. Easy to mend too. Have you the manual for Tesla yet?
Steve Bloor on 17 July 2021
Live in a rural area like Shropshire and currently electric vehicles are a no go. There just isn't the infrastructure to support them. I would have to rely on just a home charger as even Shrewsbury and Telford have yet to have charging stations in or near the town centres. I frequently drive into mid Wales where there are no charging stations the last time I checked. A 200 mile round trip in a petrol car with a 500 mile range isn't a problem but to do one in an electric car with a 200-300 mile range in perfect conditions would be worrying. I'll wait until someone produces an equivalent to my Forester with a 300 - 400 for not much more money.Roger R-B on 14 August 2021
I have been trying to make a realistic comparison of PHEV/Petrol Costs of 2 different Volvo XC 40s Looking at it through life costs of 10 years maintenance of each vehicle based on 10k Miles of which 4K is long distance in 300 mile bites.The required information is “privileged” I suspect because the case for E or PHEV is not economic. Whist I wish to be “Green” and make my contribution to the planet I appears to be a nonsensical and expensive financial argument. I would be happy to make say a £10k donation to the planet but the real costs differences seem to far exceed that.
Capital Cost/ Increased Maintenance/ Road Tax over £40k purchase/ Battery Replacement seem to far exceed my 10k donation. Do You have any information on this in detail.
Both Local Dealerships have remained silent to my detailed questions.
Can any of you make an educated guesstimate or constructive comment.
The Over £40 K road tax question on high tech low emission vehicle is crass where it pushes the low emission vehicle into the upper bracket above the petrol or diesel version as in this case of the XC40.
conman on 21 August 2021
I agree with all of the above comments so that relates to 100% against EV's . I think it will be an eye opener if before these people buy EV's or any car for that purpose to go on Webuyanycar or any other similar site and actually see how much their car is going to be worth in the future. I was considering a MG 5 Ev until I saw the price that one of the sites would give me for it. I would have lost £10K in a year ( £15K without the blue light discount). My recent new car retail price was £22,000 when valued for a year old model came out at £16,500, I actually bought it for £16,750 brand new not pre reg, so there are bargains to be had out there.DamGole on 15 September 2023
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